Holguin, Cuba, 1969

Primarily recognized after winning the 1999 La Joven Estampa award from Casa de las Américas, he affirmed his place among the revelations of Cuban graphic arts by securing, in 2001, the Grand Prize at the Kanagawa International Print Triennial, Japan.

Regarded as one of the most significant events in the country, which attracts artists worldwide – particularly notable among them are Latin Americans – the Triennial had not, until then, awarded any Cuban printmaker.

With no more knowledge than that developed through his creative intuition, this young artist began painting in 1984, and 11 years later, he joined the Carmelo González Workshop. Under the guidance of Antonio Canet, he embarked on printmaking, a craft chosen because – as he confesses – "it allows me to imbue my pieces with a special strength."

His prints, marked by the presence of a unique popular philosophy, constitute a graphic biography of the city and its people. In them, Julio reproduces "an event, a moment that I live and of which I am a part"; thus, at times, he resorts to photographs in an attempt to reflect the moment as it was lived.

He does not conceive new characters but engraves the people he sees daily, though in doing so, he transmutes them into skulls reminiscent of those by the Mexican José Guadalupe Posada (Aguascalientes, Mexico, 1852- Mexico City, 1913), appearing to live in the hereafter, engaging in the same activities as they did on earth: "One day I painted two skulls making love in the cemetery. At that time, Canet was my teacher, who approved of what I had done and suggested I familiarize myself with Posada's work," he explains. And adds: "Since then, the skulls are my characters, living or dead, real or fictional, whom I represent in this way, in skeleton, because it is how I show the inner self of each one."

His works provide space to ward off evil spirits with the smoke of the Cigar Smokers; to dance alongside the attendees of the Fiesta in San Isidro, or to the rhythm of the melody of the Rumberos of the moment, the title of the woodcut awarded in Japan.

In 2001, in addition to the prize won in Japan, he received mentions at the XIII San Juan Biennial of Latin American and Caribbean Printmaking in Puerto Rico, and at the Printmaking Encounter 2001, held at the Havana Graphics Workshop, which he has been a part of since 1997. It has been exhibited across Cuba as well as in the U.S., Spain, Venezuela, Japan, France, England, Portugal, China, Mexico, and Argentina.